Things
by They're twitterpated
Summary: It's the summer before Derek and Casey leave for university and things seem different, but not different enough. Dasey


Another new story... I don't have any more written for it yet, but I'm playing around with some ideas so leave a review let me know what you think!

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In reality the summer is pretty much the same as last summer, and the one before that. Everyone's home, but the knowledge that soon Derek and Casey will be gone seems to underlie everything that happens.

There's the subtle things, like the way that they keep letting Derek and Casey choose what to have for dinner, even when everyone is sick of Chinese food (it's the only thing Derek and Casey can happily agree upon).

Then there's the obvious stuff, like shopping for university supplies. Yes they go together, and yes, all the expected arguments occur. Derek suggests that they stop at the liquor store and Casey smacks his shoulder before scolding him about how irresponsible underage drinking is and that she very clearly read that it will not be tolerated on campus. While she rants though he sees this curious little spark in her eyes, and he likes that look a lot. He full intends to exploit that look when the first party of the year rolls around, but he would like to direct it to more pertinent matters, if possible.

Then there's the things that he's noticed but can't quite figure out _why_ them going away has anything to do with it. Most notable is that fact that no one seems to interrupt their fighting. It's not that they're used to be micro managed or anything, (in fact Derek thinks his parents, and Casey for that matter, have been missing something pretty important,) but normally someone will play referee when things get… physical. This summer Derek can't count how many times they've wrestled, on the ground, over something entirely insignificant.

He's spent an amount of time that he would never admit to trying to come up with an answer, so far he's got nothing all that plausible. He's considered that maybe it's unrelated. Maybe it's one of those confounding variable things that they talked about in school. He remembers Casey teaching him that when they studied for exams. She'd spend most of the night is his bed, in her pajamas with a messy bun on her head. A young Derek may have been phased by that, pretty girl in his bed, but these days it takes a lot more. He's used to Casey in little clothing and he can actually ignore the states of undress and pay attention to what she's saying, case point, a confounding variable is like how the number of murders increase with ice cream sales. They aren't actually related, they just exist together. He totally understands that concept.

So he thinks maybe it's because Nora's pregnant. She doesn't have the effort to play referee and his dad is entirely occupied and stressed trying to remember how this whole baby thing works.

In reality it's not a coincidence that they've let Derek and Casey fend for themselves. It's the result of a long long discussion between the parents of the teens. They decided that it's time they work things out and maybe if they stay out of it the kids will come to their own mature conclusion.

Nora worries what this might look like, but she doesn't voice her concern. They have enough real things to worry about right now, and Derek and Casey will be on their own in a few months. What will happen will happen, she resides. So when she walks into rooms to find Casey wedged between Derek's legs in some semblance of "fighting" or Derek looking at Casey when her attention is (rarely) directed elsewhere, she repeats her mantra.

What ultimately keeps her sane is the fact that she's pretty sure Casey is clueless and that surprisingly, Derek is scared.

She knows Derek. He doesn't scare easily. Girls certainly don't scare him, so she knows this is something bigger. Casey isn't just a girl to him. She doesn't know if Casey feels the same way, honestly she doesn't want her too, but she hopes that she doesn't break Derek's heart.

George has somehow never noticed the thing between the teenagers. He's noticed the yelling, duh. He's noticed the tension, refer to the yelling. But he hasn't noticed the sexual undertones of it all. So one day when he and Marti walk into the living room to find Derek sitting very close to a girl that the can't recognize from that angle he clears his throat loudly.

(He knows Derek is an eighteen year old boy, but some areas need to be kept family friendly, they still have an eight year old Marti and are about to have a baby, so he's trying to pick up the slack that has settled over the McDonald Venturi home. The goal this time is that the kid doesn't name its stuffed animal BJ at its older siblings' suggestion. A lofty goal, really.)

And everything suddenly hits him when he sees that the girl is Casey, and they _do_ jump apart, just like he had intended. First he's embarrassed, and everyone tries to laugh it off, except Marti who says "It's just Casey, dad!" but then it keeps running though his mind.

If it's _just Casey_ , _WHY do they jump apart?_


End file.
